1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an analyzer and a method of restricting a function of an application program in an analyzer, and more particularly, it relates to an analyzer capable of functioning in specifications different for respective areas and a method of restricting a function of an application program in such an analyzer.
2. Description of the Background Art
An analyzer capable of functioning in specifications different for respective area is known in general, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,013,260, for example.
The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 7,013,260 discloses a sample analyzer allowing display by using a language for an area which a user demands.
The analyzers have heretofore used in a plurality of areas, and only the analyzer used in a prescribed area among the plurality of areas is often provided with an additional function performing particular control. In this case, an application program for the prescribed area different from an application program for other areas is generally installed into the analyzer used in the prescribed area to perform the particular control for the prescribed area.
In the use of the aforementioned sample analyzer described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,013,260 in the prescribed area, however, in a case where the application program for the prescribed area for performing the particular control for the prescribed area is installed into the sample analyzer, and the user hereafter installs the application program for other areas into the sample analyzer, the sample analyzer disadvantageously performs control for other areas when the user stars the application program for other areas. In other words, the sample analyzer disadvantageously does not perform the particular control for the prescribed area although used in the prescribed area, once the application program for other areas starts.